The invention relates to a valve actuating mechanism.
In such valve actuating mechanisms, the problem consists in the fact that when switching over, i.e. when the high rotational speed cam has to become effective by the coupling of the two rocker levers, it is not reliably possible to ensure that the coupling pin immediately penetrates completely into the hole in the second rocker lever after it has been acted on by pressure because the holes in the two rocker levers are only aligned with one another when the rocker levers are running on the base circles of their cams and because the pin requires a certain period after the pressure begins to act on it in order to pass into its coupling position. Consequently, the situation can arise in which the pin protrudes only slightly into the hole in the second rocker lever at the beginning of the lift phase resulting in a substantial surface pressure which leads to severe wear. In order to solve this problem, it is known in the art--in a differently constructed valve actuation appliance (as described in DE-C 35 26 542)--to provide a locking element which is actuated by a cam of its own and only releases the coupling pin during a lift phase of the two rocker levers so that the whole of the following base circle phase is available for the displacement of the pin. This solution for the system discussed is, however, complicated.